Manyofourworkconversationsincludemorethanonetopic.Whileitonly
takesalittlethoughtandorganizationtostartaconversationclearlywithasingle
topic,itishardertobeclearwhentalkingaboutmultipletopics.
Whentwoormoretopicsarecombinedinasingleconversation,theriskof
confusionincreasesexponentially,andtheneedforclearframingisevenmore
important.Youmayhaveexperiencedthisconfusionifyou’veeverhadtoask
someone“Arewestilltalkingabout[inserttopic],orhavewemovedonto
somethingnew?”Confusionoverwhetheraconversationhasmovedtoanew
topicisaclearindicatortheconversationwasn’twellframed.
Uptothispoint,everythinginthisbookhasrelatedtoframingasingletopic.
Singletopicsonlyhaveonecontext,oneintent,andonekeymessage.
Conversationswithtwoormoretopicscanhavemultiplecontexts,different
intentsforeachtopic,andavarietyofkeymessages.Withoutawell-structured
start,theseconversationscanquicklygetofftrack,mixupcriticalinformation,
ormissimportantpoints.
Acommonexampleofmixingtopicshappensinemails,anditissomething
manyofushaveexperienced.Haveyoueversentanemailwithtwoormore
questionsandbeenfrustratedwhentherespondentonlyanswersoneofthe
questions?Ourtendencyistoblametheotherpersonfornotreadingtheemail
properly.Thenwehavetospendtimegoingbackandforthwithadditional
emailsorphonecallstryingtogetalltheanswerswewant.
Insteadofblamingtheotherperson,weshouldtakealookatouroriginalemail.
Didwewriteitinawaythatmadeitclearthatwehadmultiplequestions?Were
thequestionseasilydistinguishablefromtheothertextinthemessage,orwere
theyburiedinthemiddleofparagraphs?Oftenthecauseofgettingan
incompleteanswerisbecauseourquestionswerenotwellstructured,anditwas
notobvioustotheaudiencethatthemessagecontainedmultiplequestions.
Ifit’seasytomixuptopicsinanemailwhentherecipienthastimetoreadit
morethanonce,howmuchharderisittokeeptrackofmultipletopicsina
conversationthat’shappeninginrealtime?
Inreality,manyofourworkconversationsinvolvemorethanonetopic,andthis
canleadtoconfusion.Byframingtheconversationcorrectly,it’seasierto